19th March 2009, 11:23
| #961 | |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 4,036
Thanked: 3,312 Times
| Quote:
Here is an opportunity for an Indian collector to buy back some motoring heritage and then get into a tussle with the authorities. Not worth the bother. What a fine car. Any pics when she was in India? | |
|
|
19th March 2009, 11:45
| #962 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: pune
Posts: 242
Thanked: 223 Times
| Quote:
Henry Rolls famous statement, "The quality will be remembered long after the price is forgotten." Who was Henry Rolls?  Aditya Last edited by Technocrat : 19th March 2009 at 13:06. Reason: Removed color & font tags | |
|
|
|
21st March 2009, 06:36
| #963 |
| Distinguished - BHPian  Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Ann Arbor
Posts: 2,947
Thanked: 8,635 Times
| |
|
|
|
22nd March 2009, 13:19
| #964 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Abu Dhabi (for now)
Posts: 2,957
Thanked: 415 Times
| |
|
|  (1)
Thanks
|
|
22nd March 2009, 13:33
| #965 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Abu Dhabi (for now)
Posts: 2,957
Thanked: 415 Times
| The Maharaja of Mysore's 1911 Silver Ghost Landaulette. This is from concept cars showing the Mysore 1911 Ghost. Interesting read and an amazing car. The rulers of India, the Maharajas of various states and city-states, were loyal customers of the Rolls-Royce  marque. Many lived a very lavish lifestyle in palaces with staff and attendants to wait on their ever need and desire. When they traveled they were often accompanied by large numbers of guards, retainers, family and staff. Rolls-Royce had a colonial model which was well suited to the rougher roads and conditions of remote regions, and a popular choice for many of the Maharajas. They were fitted with a wide variety of coachwork for entertainment, hunting, ceremony and transportation. The coronation of King George V was celebrated by all of the Princes of India in what was called the Delhi Durbar. This beautiful Rolls-Royce is one of eight Silver Ghosts with identical landaulette bodies provided for this special event. After the coronation, it was presented to the Maharaja of Mysore, who had it rebodied with this magnificent open (to suit the tropical climate) Victoria to be used for parades and other special ceremonies by the Maharaja. The eight identical landaulette bodied cars were built by Barker, Hooper, Windovers, Mulliner and Thrupp & Maberly. This car, with chassis 1683, was the only on bodied by H.J. Mulliner and was fitted with Pullman Limousine coachwork. Following the Durbar, ownership passed to Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, Maharaja of Mysore. At some early period in its life the Mulliner Pullman limousine coachwork was removed and rebodied wih this open Victoria. It was used for parades and similar ceremonial occassions. The passengers riding in the elevated rear seat are protected from the sun by a folding victoria top. The large umbrella in the rear was to provide partial shading for the guards and retainers standing at attention in the sun. A very thoughtful gesture on part of the Maharaja. The car returned to England in the 1950s and treated to a restoration. Upon completion, it was sold at auction to James Leake for the price of $27,000, a high price at the time. Millard Newman became the cars next owner and then purchased by Richard Solove in 1993. He commissioned Dave Hemmings to perform another restoration which still shows nicely in modern times. At the 1994 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance it was awarded first-in-class honors and earned the Millard Newman Award at Amelia Island in 2003. This Silver Ghost has a side-valve, six-cylinder, 7428cc engine producing 48 horsepower at 1,250 rpm, and a three-speed transmission. The seven-bearing crankshaft has full pressure lubrication and the center main bearing is made specially large to remove vibration, essentially splitting the engine into two three-cylinder units. Two spark plugs  are fitted to each cylinder with a trembler coil to produce the spark with a magneto-the instruction was to start the engine on the trembler/battery and then switch to magneto. The substantial chassis had rigid front and rear axles and leaf springs all round. The success of the model led to the company dropping the previous range of cars and following a one model policy until the launch of the 20 hp in 1922. In all, a total of 8,416 Silver Ghost cars were produced from 1907 to 1926, including 1,703 from the American Springfield factory. Many are still running to this day. The Silver Ghost was the origin of Rolls-Royce's claim of making the 'Best car in the world' - a phrase coined by the prestigious publication Autocar in 1907.In 2007 it was brought to the Gooding & Company auction held in Pebble Beach, Ca where it was estimated to sell for $800,000-$1,200,000 and offered without reserve. Those estimates proved very accurate as the lot was sold for $990,000 |
|
|
|
22nd March 2009, 13:50
| #966 |
| Distinguished - BHPian  | |
|
|
|
22nd March 2009, 14:01
| #967 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Abu Dhabi (for now)
Posts: 2,957
Thanked: 415 Times
| Some interesting reading on Rolls Royces and Indian Royalty courtsey of the Tribune. Karl. The Mysore Ghost is courtsey of Conceptcarz.com [Maharajas’ rendezvous with Rolls-Royce]N his famous book Freedom at Midnight, French author Lapierre states that on an average each maharaja in India had 3.5 Rolls-Royce automobiles. If we were to stick to the correct number of maharajas — 225 of them (those who had gun salutes fired in their honour were entitled to the title, all others were merely rajas — that would mean that from 1908 to 1939 (when World War II started), the maharajas had bought at least 788 Rolls-Royce cars. If you include the rajas, it could be more. Automobile historian John M. Faisal states that in all, before 1947, a total of 900 Rolls-Royce cars were sold to Indian princesThe craze the Indian princes had for exotic automobiles in the first four decades of the twentieth century is well known. After World War I, many of the Indian princes spent a lot of money on famous American automobile brands like Cadillacs, Chryslers and Lincoln, but none of the non-British brands appealed to the maharajas as the Rolls-Royce. In fact, the very first Rolls-Royce that came off the assembly lines after World War II (1939-45) was bought by Maharaja Pratap Singh Gaekwar of Baroda  The very first Rolls-Royce bought by a "native Indian prince" was the "Pearl of the East". It was purchased by the Maharaja of Gwalior after its record breaking trans-India runs in 1908. Soon the Indian rulers began to order exotic versions. The handbook of the grand 40/50 h.p. Silver Ghost, sent to His Highness the Nizam of Hyderabad in March 1913 by Rolls-Royce, stated that it was a "Semi-State Coach". Actually it was a sort of throne car, painted in a rich canary yellow with gold mountings, upholstered in gold silk brocade with matching curtains and brocade. And this was only one of the Nizam’s 50 Rolls-Royces, many of which still have their original paint. They had barely done one thousand miles when he died in 1967. But it appears that despite his dozens of exotic automobiles (numbering more than 200), the Nizam used only one of his old Buicks to do his circuits of Hyderabad city ]In 1920, a Silver Ghost limousine was sold to the Viceroy of India. Later this was bought by the Raja of Monghyr, who deputed a well-known Calcutta jeweller to decorate the car with silver plate as per Indian designs. This car was said to be the most ornate Rolls-Royce in India. Many maharajas preferred the Cabriolet version, which enabled them to sit on a raised seat in the rear of the automobile so that their subjects would be able to recognise the ruler and pay homage. Talking to the librarian in the Rolls-Royce archives in London, I found that although the firm sold their automobiles to quite a number of maharajas, they considered the Maharaja of Mysore special, for he always bought Rolls-Royces in batches of seven! So much so that in Rolls-Royce parlance "doing a Mysore" meant selling seven cars at the same time. Another famous buyer was the Maharaja of Bharatpur (He always bought three automobiles at the same time). Once when the Rolls-Royce firm delayed sending mechanics to his capital to rectify small faults in the cars, the maharaja threatened to convert all his Rolls-Royces into garbage carriers. Lest the car lose its "aura" as the automobile for the super rich, the car-makers sent a group of mechanics at the earliest to Bharatpur. Another enthusiastic buyer was the Maharaja of Patiala, whose Rolls-Royces (27 among his hundreds of vintage makes) were decorated with diamonds and precious stones — so much so that during the overhaul of his cars, elite security guards had to be positioned in the garage to prevent pilferage. The Maharaja of Nabha had one Rolls Royce — with its body built to resemble a swan. When the car made its slow progress on the streets, it had the gracious appearance of a swan taking to water. Jawaharlal Nehru, referring to this automobile in one of his books, wrote that the maharaja was known as "Bathak (Hindi for goose) Raja" as the onlookers could not differentiate between the goose and swan. The Maharaja of Darbhanga had a number of Rolls-Royces and according to a recent newspaper report, six of them are rusting in the old family garage at Darbhanga. The Maharaja of Faridkot too was fond of Rolls-Royce. Late last year, one automobile enthusiast managed to get a peep into the padlocked palace garage and came back goggle-eyed after counting six Rolls-Royces, two Bentleys and four Jaguars rusting away. The maharajas used the Rolls-Royce as a vehicle for tiger hunting as well. These special cars had extra footboards for the servants to stand while the car rushed through the forest in pursuit of the tiger and a special high power "farlight screen mounted tiger shooting lamp" dazzled the tiger’s eyes and made it an easy victim. One of the books on Rolls-Royce states that a particular model bought by the H.H. Aga Khan II in the early 1930s was considered to be so unique that the manufacturers made an arrangement with him that the car would be sold back to them for its market value after his demise. Independence found the maharajas with dozens of Rolls-Royces but no money to maintain them. In the early sixties, many cars were surreptitiously sold to the foreign vintage car connoisseurs under the plea that the car was being sent out of India for repair as the spare parts were not available in the country. By 1971, when privy purses were abolished, the Government of India became wise to this kind of selling and decided that the cars could be sold outside India, provided the sale price money was brought back to India in foreign exchange. The Jodhpur "Ghost of India" was one such car sold in the 1970s. The "Swan" car was sold by the erstwhile Maharani of Nabha to an "Indian buyer" in the 1990s. The Indian buyer proved to be an agent for a foreign vintage car enthusiast and had the car sent out of India. By the time Indian vintage car experts came to know of the sale, it was too late. This car is now said to be in an Amsterdam museum. However, not all the princes were happy with the smooth running engine of the Rolls-Royce, which barely made a noise. The Nawab of Arcot in South India suddenly stopped coming to Madras city in his antique Rolls-Royce. Instead he attended meetings and conferences in an old car of a different make. When queried as to why he chose the inferior car for his trips, his straight-faced answer was: "Well... the Rolls-Royce does not make any sound when I drive it, even in high speed. During my use of the car in estates, my tenants do not get a chance to look up and pay me homage.... As such I have to use this cheaper and more noisy model, which gives advance notice of my coming!" Last edited by wasif : 22nd March 2009 at 14:06. |
|
|
|
22nd March 2009, 14:04
| #968 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Quote:
When you post from an external link you are required to post that link here as well. | |
|
|
|
23rd March 2009, 10:39
| #969 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Abu Dhabi (for now)
Posts: 2,957
Thanked: 415 Times
| Quote:
The thing is most of this info has been with me for a while and I have it stored on various CD's which I go through and post here. The cars may have been mentioned in other threads but the details in these articles is not present in any thread. The idea here is to share with all of you the interesting details I have on cars that are part of our heritage. If you guys feel this info is not relevent then please advice and I will stop posting it. | |
|
|
|
23rd March 2009, 10:43
| #970 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Quote:
Why Im keen on you posting the links is because this is copyrighted material which we cannot reproduce without mentioning the particular original source. It can create issues in the long term. | |
|
|
|
25th March 2009, 11:11
| #971 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 4,036
Thanked: 3,312 Times
| |
|
|
| |
|
25th March 2009, 14:49
| #972 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: May 2008 Location: France
Posts: 130
Thanked: 125 Times
| Quote:
| |
|
|
|
18th April 2009, 10:56
| #973 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 4,036
Thanked: 3,312 Times
| |
|
| (1)
Thanks
|
|
19th April 2009, 13:53
| #974 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
|
|
|
19th April 2009, 14:23
| #975 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Abu Dhabi (for now)
Posts: 2,957
Thanked: 415 Times
| |
|
|
 |
Most Viewed